Was Shubman Gill really unfit to play against South Africa in Ahmedabad? Reports reveal BIG TWIST before India's T20 World Cup 2026 squad announcement

Earlier this week, it was revealed that India's squad for T20 World Cup 2026 would be announced on December 20. With the India-South Africa series still having two more games to go in the series, a lot was riding on those two games to settle a big debate - who opens with Abhishek Sharma? Shubman Gill the vice-captain or Sanju Samson? 

Unfortunately for Gill, he suffered a toe injury before the start of the fourth T20I against South Africa in Lucknow but the match then got abandoned without a ball being bowled, owing to fog. It seemed like Gill would play the final game of the series in Ahmedabad, his happy hunting ground across all formats. It must be remembered that Gill's only T20I hundred also came at this very venue.

Surprisingly, 24 hours prior to the fifth T20I, Gill was ruled out and it was now obvious that Samson would open in the final match of the series. The Kerala batter did get a start, a fluent 22-ball 37 but couldn't convert it into a bigger score. However, he had shown enough signs of what India are missing by keeping him on the bench. Still, it seemed like Gill would start over Samson barring any injuries. 

However, India's squad announcement threw a different twist altogether, one that saw Gill being dropped from the squad completely. Even those who were in favour of Samson opening the batting would have still expected Gill to be in the squad but that wasn't to be. The more shocking news coming in from the cricketing news circles is that Gill wasn't given any prior communication of his axing. 

According to multiple sources close to the BCCI, Gill wasn't told till Saturday (December 20) morning about his incoming exclusion from the T20 World Cup squad. The announcement was made in the afternoon and there is no update on whether Gill was given clarity before that deadline at least. This also brings us to another sensational question - was Gill really unfit to play the Ahmedabad T20I?

Sources close to the team management say that the 26-year-old was fit enough to play the fifth T20I in Ahmedabad but was told to rest on precautionary grounds but the reality was that they had already made up their mind on him. Gill was suspected to have a toe fracture in Lucknow but detailed scans suggested that it was only a bruise. Which also explains why he travelled with the team to Ahmedabad. 

If the foot injury was serious, there would have also been a more detailed mention about it during the squad announcement, given that Gill would have been racing against time to be available for the New Zealand T20Is in mid-January. However, skipper Suryakumar Yadav and chief selector Ajit Agarkar both were in sync with the reason - team combinations.

All this makes the situation look a lot messier, especially when you consider that Gill was thrown back into the T20I side for reasons not related to T20 cricket. India had just begun their Test transition under him with an impressive 2-2 draw in England and Gill had put on a stellar show as captain. The selectors' long-standing fetish for mixing formats and wanting all-format players saw Gill back in T20Is.

More than his return, the straight elevation to vice-captaincy at the cost of Axar Patel (who is now back to the role) made little sense. Samson, despite a poor England series, had done enough to get the long rope but soon got benched. All this only for Gill to ultimately get sidelined with barely two months to go. 

If these reports from sources are indeed true, the Gill episode has been nothing short of an absolute disaster in communication. It doesn't take away the fact that the right call was made on his exclusion but surely, things should have been handled better.